They Can Take the Sky From Me
by Aspidosecelis
Summary: Mal becomes increasingly depressed following a prison breakout. No romance, but much awesome.
1. Chapter 1

They Can Take the Sky From Me

AUTHORS NOTE: HELLO. I DO NOT. Own. Firefly. But I do own it on DVD. Because it isn't hard to get all of Firefly. BECAUSE. There is only the one season. And the movie. But I don't own either of those. Well I do. But not the intellectual rights. Because those belong to like, all the people involved in making the thing.

But do you know what I do own?

This fanfic. I own it. Because I made it.

Chapter One: TAKE MY LOVE AND STEP ON IT A BUNCH OF TIMES.

Mal was sad. The reason he was sad was that the Alliance had finally caught up with Serenity, and they had arrested everyone on the ship, and sent River to a secret lab and Simon went to jail, and then Mal ended up in a prison.

In prison, Mal learned several important things. The first thing he learned was that it is completely possible for the Alliance to take the sky away from him. He didn't have any windows. The second thing he learned was that being depressed was depressing. The third thing he learned was that his cellmate liked to tap dance at three AM for exercise.

His cellmate also sometimes liked to assrape him, but that was another story.

While he was staring at his window that was actually a painting he had painted on the clean wall of his cell in his own blood. It was very lovely, except that it was raining, and some of the stick-figure people were screaming in sorrow. While he doing this River came in!

"Mal! I broke out of the science lab because I'm way stronger than them now!" She skipped around and then she helped Mal and his cellmate out of the cell. Then they ran down the hallway, except nobody had any guns.

Mal and his Cellmate let River deal with the guards. She kicked them, and a few exploded because she knew a really awesome new way to kick people. Some of them didn't explode, but caught fire, because she missed the explosion spot a bit.

Some of them dropped guns, and since there were two that weren't charred and exploded into oblivion, Mal and the Cellmate grabbed some and helped River fight off the rest of them.

They didn't really know where they were going, but they decided as a group that it would be a good idea to get out of the prison and think of the next step later. So they kept running, as fast as they could.

Eventually they found themselves outside, and River and Mal knocked over one of the fences, and they hurried out onto the street.

Mal's Cellmate stole some sunglasses, while River found some trench coats, and they changed clothes to blend in with the crowd. Mal found some pants, so he wore them, but his Cellmate didn't, so he didn't, but it was okay because his coat was super long.

End Chapter One!


	2. I Cannot Stand On This Land

Chapter Two: I CANNOT STAND ON THIS LAND, BUT I CAN WEEP ON IT

Mal and River and the Cellmate were unsure of what to do next, so they went to a bar and bought some drinks using money they stole from wallets. They sat down at a table, and started drinking, even though River was probably underage for the bar, because nobody cared because this was a slummy part of the city.

"We need to find Simon now!" said River.

Mal nodded, and so did his Cellmate.

Mal stared at his Cellmate for a second. "Why are you agreeing? You don't know who Simon is!" He hit the table with his fist in frustration.

The Cellmate shrugged. "I just thought he sounded like a nice person. I'm a very reasonable guy when I'm not assraping my cellmates, you know."

Mal stared at him, then yelled "I DO NOT, IN FACT, KNOW THAT, BECAUSE THAT THERE SOUNDS LIKE A VERY SAD SORRY EXCUSE FOR AN EXCUSE."

The Cellmate looked at River and Mal, and then started crying. "I didn't mean to! I WERE JUST LONELY. And I have a name!"

Mal, who hadn't asked for a name, was surprised to hear that he had a name, because they hadn't discussed it, and had decided to call the cellmate 'Cellmate' in his head. "What is it?" he asked.

"My name! My name is RYAN ANDRONICUS!"

"That is one hell of a mouthful, there, sir," said Mal.

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN HEAR MY MIDDLE NAME YET!" cried Ryan Andronicus.

"Well then what would that be, then?" asked Mal.

River cut in before Ryan Andronicus could answer. "His full name. IT IS. Ryan Caeser James Wilberfore Titius Salamander Michael Ezra Duane Salvadore Andronicus." Then she fainted, because it was a lot of mindreading to find all of that out, and made her tired. Also because she didn't breathe at all while she was saying it, and so she ran out of air too.

Because she fainted and they didn't want to get arrested again for having a dangerous science experiment fugitive sitting around with them if any cops decided to check if she was okay, Mal and Ryan decided to pick River up and run out of the bar. This attracted surprisingly little attention, because guys were doing that to small adorable girls all the time around them parts like those.

"So," said Mal, as they were running down the back alleys looking for a place to hide, "What do you think about us finding us my boat? It's a very nice boat."

Ryan shrugged. "I don't know about that. We'd probably have to break in to some such high security place or summat."

River woke up and shouted "WE CAN'T, SERENITY HAS BEEN IMPOUNDED. SHE WAS VERY SAD ABOUT IT. IT RAINED, AND THE STICK FIGURE PEOPLE WERE RIGHT TO BE SAD." Then fainted again.

Mal was surprised, so he accidentally dropped her. "It can't be!" He started crying, then. But in a manly manner. He knew River was psychic, but maybe she was wrong. Or predicting the future. Or had looked out of Mal's window earlier.


	3. I Do Care, Although I Am Now Free

Chapter 3 – I DO CARE, ALTHOUGH I AM NOW FREE

Mal wished wholeheartedly that his boat had not, in fact, been impounded, because he wanted to be able to fly into space again, and Serenity was his favorite ship in the whole entire 'verse. If she was impounded-

Ryan interrupted his internal dialogue, "Mal… I don't think impounded means what you think it means."

He stared at Ryan, as if Ryan were insane. What did Ryan know about flying boats across the galaxy? What did Ryan know about anything? Ryan was probably born in that prison cell or something!

Ryan sighed. "It's not-"

"THEY POUNDED MY GORRAM SHIP INTO A MILLION PIECES, THEN POUNDED THEM PIECES TOGETHER INTO A LITTLE CHUNK OF SPACE DEBRIS!"

Ryan put a hand on Mal's shoulder, and stared at him, very seriously. "Mal. Impounded means they put her in a shipyard. The worst case is that she was resold to somebody."

"What are you-" Mal sat up off of the ground a little.

"What kind of ship was she?"

"Firefl-"

Ryan tried very hard not to laugh at him. "No seriously. Okay, well, nobody stole her then. That piece of crap is probably better off smashed into pieces anyways."

River woke up again, finally, and blurted "But Mal! I don't think you understand that impounded isn't when they smash a space ship a bunch of times!"

Ryan stared at her, said, "Already covered that, Darling."

"Well," said River, "I guess that means we have to find Jayne."

"Jayne?" asked Mal, confused.

"Who's she?" Ryan hadn't met her yet, so it was a perfectly reasonable question for him to be asking.

"She's the one watching the ship!" River smiled, because she knew something they didn't. "She was hiding, and she's been living in a cupboard ever since!"

"River," Mal stared at her, "Jayne is a man…"

"I know!" She sounded excited, "But I was saying she because Ryan said he was a girl!"

"Man named Jayne? I knew a-"

Mal interrupted Ryan by bursting into tears again. "IT AINT FAIR. WHY IS JAYNE ON MY BOAT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?"

"-was a complete bastard, though. I'm sure your Jayne is better than my Jayne."

Since Mal was too busy being melodramatic, River cut in. "Jayne Cobb."

Ryan covered most of his face with his hand. "Shit. That's the same Jayne. Why would he bother to stay on the ship?"

Mal wailed, with much gusto. "HE WANTS TO STEAL HER."

"Or," River said, careful not to upset the captain more, "He wants to fight people, and staying on an impounded boat would mean lots of security personnel walk through for him to shoot at."

"It aint fair! He's fighting the Alliance without me AND using my boat without permission!"


	4. Jayne Cobb  An Interlude

Jayne Cobb – An Interlude

Just at that moment, Jayne and Vera were sitting in Serenity, which had been impounded but not crushed into a million pieces. Jayne was staring over boxes, and Vera was firing bullets at people.

These people were alliance officers who had been asked to clean out the recently acquired ship. They had expected to find illegal things, but they had not expected Jayne Cobb. Jayne Cobb, having been very, very drunk in a hiding spot for the past few weeks, had not expected them either.

At first he had panicked, then he had realized he was armed, and that he had decided to hide with a lot of ammo when he had tried hiding, so he was ready to fire at anybody who might want to break into Serenity to find him.

Technically he should have expected this, since he had been the one to betray everybody. The Alliance had paid him a lot of money to give them the coordinates to where they were in space. Unfortunately, in his hungover state, Jayne didn't really care much at all about whose side he was on.

According to all the dead Alliance ship investigators, he was probably still on Mal's side.

"Gorram- *bam* People- *bam* Making- *bam* Noise- *bam* On- *bam* Ship- *bam* Sleeping- *bam* Here- *bam* Gorram-" He was out of bullets again, so he swapped.

If he was being completely honest with himself, Jayne knew that he was enjoying this killing a lot more than he ought to have been.

Back on the Ranch, the team had finally dragged Mal back to his feet, and were busy walking down the street looking for a computer to hack. They were going to use it to figure out where Jayne was.


	5. Tell Them I'm Coming Back

Authors Note: I apologize for the lack of Mal in the last chapter, because Mal's angst is way more important than Jayne being cool in a spaceship, and you can totally tell me if you want more Mal or more Jayne because this is about everyone not just Mal.

Chapter Five – Tell Them I'm Coming Back Because I'm Tired of Running Away

Mal tried to use the computer to find out where Mal was. First he tried to use spacegoogle by searching "Impounded Ship Serenity". But that didn't work. They did get a helpful ad for a product that would make somebody's feet smell like space ships, though.

Next, he decided to ask. So he typed "Where is my ship it is named Serenity and I think it was impounded by the Alliance?" into Spaceyahoo!answers.

They decided to order tea and coffee while they waited for someone to response.

Eventually, someone responded! And the computer caught on fire in excitement when it told them, but that was okay because River put it out again since she is not only a girl but also a body of water.

Ryan looked at the first response and gasped. "MAL YOUR SHIP IS IN THIS POOR USER'S MOTHER! HOW DID IT GET INSIDE OF HER?"

River grabbed the mouse and scrolled down. "That's just internet lies. Serenity isn't a lesbian except for sometimes. And I don't think she is for that guy's mom, though."

Eventually they found one with a legitimate address because it had been posted by a person working for the Alliance who liked to help people as much as he could. So they went to the address, and Serenity was there!

Jayne looked out of a window and waved at them, while shooting at all the people who looked concerned about being shot at. Mal told them to go away, but they didn't. So then Ryan tried to, and since Ryan looked more authoritative, they decided they would go ask a superior whether they should actually leave, so they left, but only temporary.

Mal and River hurried in, and Jayne said "You owe me some bullets."

Ryan followed them, but since he didn't have any bullets either, Jayne got mad and shot at him. He missed killing Ryan, but Ryan got injured in his leg. "OH NO, I AM INJURED, MAL!"

Mal was concerned, and River started flailing around on the ground because she could feel his pain empathetically.

Mal was ready to collapse in sorrow at this misfortune that had occurred to his friend, but he came up with an idea before he did. "I know what we need- a doctor!"

River stopped flailing long enough to say "MY BROTHER is a doctor! Can we get Simon! He's still in jail!"

Mal agreed that that would be a good idea. "But he is on another planet!"

Even though he was in pain, Ryan was being rational. "I DON'T WANT TO MAKE THIS A VIDEO GAME WITH LOTS OF ANNOYING QUESTS TO DO SIMPLE ACTIONS, BUT THERE IS NO KEYS TO THE SHIP IN HERE, THEY ARE GONE, AND WE NEED TO GET THEM, ALSO THE PEOPLE WE SCARED AWAY ARE BACK WITH MORE GUNS."

Mal decided that he could distract them, somehow.

-end chapter five!

Find out how he distracts them, next chapter!


	6. The Sea Is Boiling

Chapter Six – Oh God the Sea Is Boiling

So then the people were distracted again, and River was sent out to find the keys in the office where the superiors worked.

Author's note: This chapter has a lot of River and not so much Mal. Sorry about that!

So then the people were distracted again, and River was sent out to find the keys in the office where the superiors worked.

She followed a few of the people who were being distracted so that they wouldn't kill everyone on the ship, and they led her to where the superiors worked because River was super clever and figured they would know that sort of thing.

She kicked down the door, which exploded, and walked over to the supervisor, who was drinking a can of soda at his desk. SPACE soda. SPACE WESTERN soda. But he was Italian, so it was Space Spaghetti Western Soda.

"I need the key to Serenity the ship you impounded!" She announced.

He stared at her for a second, and started smoking a cigar, even though it was bad for his health. "Do you have authorization to take the ship?" He picked up his fedora and put it on his head, too.

"Yes. I have authorization."

He nodded. "Good, then I guess you can have the keys." He handed her the keys, and they didn't even explode or anything.

River escaped the base, even though everyone was trying to kill her because they knew she was breaking in. She had to punch a few people, and when she punched them they caught on fire and started melting.

River Song was the last person on the way out of the base, and River Tam knew this was going to be a difficult enemy to face. For one thing, River Song was not only a body of water but also a form of expression involving sound, and that was more than River Tam who was a body of water and a fancy sort of hat for Scottish people.

Instead of fighting, River Tam thought that she could outsmart River Song. So River jumped and River watched and River tried to Dodge when River kicked but River ended up kicking River's shoulder, and River fell over and then River started to melt, but it was all mind over matter so River stopped melting and went back to normal and in the confusion over names, River Tam got away.

When she got back to the ship, River's foot still sort of hurt from being punched by River. She shook it off, though, and waved the keys around to show off that she had found them.

Mal, who was a concerned adult figure, wanted to make sure she was okay. "You're not hurt, are you? Did they hurt you?"

River shrugged. "The guy in charge of HR shot at me, and I had to be really sneaky to get into the office and steal the keys while the supervisor wasn't looking, but other than that I am fine."

Which was true because it just happened.

-end chapter 6.

Authors Note: Next Chapter will be about Mal!


End file.
